A light emitting device having a structure in which a semiconductor light emitting element (for example, semiconductor laser light source) and a light-transmitting member are combined with each other has heretofore been proposed (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-165834).
As shown in FIG. 1, a light emitting device 200 described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-165834 can include a semiconductor laser light source 210, a light-transmitting member 220 (containing phosphor), a condenser lens 230, a holder 240, and other members. The light-transmitting member 220 can be located at a distance from the semiconductor laser light source 210. The condenser lens 230 can be arranged between the semiconductor laser light source 210 and the light-transmitting member 220. The holder 240 can hold the semiconductor laser light source 210, the light-transmitting member 220, and the condenser lens 230.
In the light emitting device 200 described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-165834, the laser light from the semiconductor laser light source 210 can be condensed by the condenser lens 230 and pass through a through hole 242. The light-transmitting member 220 arranged over the through hole 242 can be locally irradiated with the laser light. The light-transmitting member 220 irradiated with the laser light can emit both the transmitted laser light from the semiconductor laser light source 210 and light (luminescence) that is emitted due to excitation of phosphor by the laser light from the semiconductor laser light source 210. From the viewpoint of preventing the light-transmitting member 220 from falling off and allowing the laser light to be directly emitted to the outside, the light-transmitting member 220 is firmly fixed by a fixing member 250.
According to the light emitting device 200 having the above configuration, the light-transmitting member 220 can be prevented from falling off. However, the light-transmitting member 220 and the fixing member 250 experience repeated expansion and contraction because of heat generated by the locally irradiating laser light from the semiconductor laser light source. This causes the problem in which the light-transmitting member 220 and the fixing member 250 are prone to embrittlement (the light-transmitting member is thus prone to break).